We all know that big-engined gas-guzzlers are wrecking the planet and need to be driven off the road. Instead, we should all be using clean-green public transport for local journeys.

The term ‘clean’ has become synonymous with super-frugal, low-CO2, cars but it is deeply-flawed terminology. CO2 may well be one of a number of ‘greenhouse’ gases, but in terms of an immediate threat to human health, it is the byproducts of diesel combustion that are the real problem.

I cannot understand why there wasn’t a uproar when, a few months ago, the World Health Organisation declared that diesel engine exhaust fumes can cause cancer in humans. Incredibly, the WHO placed diesel engine exhausts gases in the same category as asbestos, arsenic and mustard gas.

Of course, we’ve all seen the clouds of black soot emitted by diesel vehicles when the driver accelerates hard. The particular problem are the tiny particulates that get lodged in the lungs and are suspected of being a trigger for cancer and possibly other diseases such as a Sarcoidosis. What you can’t see coming out of the exhaust are the Nitrogen Oxides, which are a big component of smog and a first-class lung irritant.

I suspect that the silence from the normally noisy environmentalists is because much of the problem in towns and cities is caused by public transport and commercial vehicles. I can’t help but think that the amount of venom directed at, say, Range Rovers is simply displacement activity on the part of campaigners who, deep down, know where the real threat to health lies.

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At the beginning of the year, Putney High Street in west London broke EU air pollution regulations after the first 35 days of 2012 saw recorded pollution levels over the EU limit. Amazingly, Transport for London admitted that its buses were a big part of the problem and said new, cleaner, replacements were on the way.

What I call ‘pavement-side pollution’ will only be reduced with a radical re-think of public transport, more stringent rules about commercial vehicle access to city centres and the use of roadside pollution sensors, which can pick out the worst offenders.

Last week it was revealed that Transport for London was to order 600 of the ‘New Routemaster’ New Bus for London electric-drive buses, a project born out of an Autocar design proposal. With a diesel engine/generator of around half the size of a normal bus, the New Routemaster will probably deployed on the most polluted routes to reduce emissions and to try and prevent the mega-fines long-threatened by the EU.

Today, Milton Keynes announces a five-year project to install re-chargeable electric buses, replacing eight diesel models, on one of the town’s main routes. Eight companies are involved in the new technology, which will allow the electric buses to wirelessly recharge for 10 minutes at each end of the route, during the driver break. It’s claimed that two thirds of the charge needed to complete the No7 route can be achieved in the 10 minute slot.

Milton Keynes Council is pushing the figures that, once the No7 route is fully-electric, ‘500 tonnes of CO2’ will no longer be released into the atmosphere. Much more important to the heath of Keynesians, however, is the ‘45 tonnes of other noxious tailpipe emissions’ during the 450,000 miles covered by the No7 buses in a year.

One day, most public authorities will drop the obsession with ‘CO2’ and take to heart what the WTO said earlier this year. The failure to clean up public and commercial transport is one of the biggest health scandals of our time.

Join the debate

...was the authentic sound of a public too weary to engage. Weary as a result of hearing too many new policies and new policy u-turns, among them the initiatives which have seen many of us climb into diesel cars because at the time everyone, even Autocar, said that low-carbon was good. That's diesel cars which we're not about to sell now just because the latest theory, rightly or wrongly, runs counter to the last one we were sold. Gas guzzlers are part of the problem, so let's not pretend otherwise. The future requires everyone to make do with less, in this case meaning driving smaller vehicles with smaller engines, instead of just hoping that science will come up with the kind of silver-bullet answer that means we can all press on regardless and carry on as before. Hydrogen might be it, eventually, I've no idea, but electricity isn't and certainly isn't going to be whilst the bulk of it comes from power stations running on oil, coal and gas. Bus, taxi, car - it makes no difference. Big is no longer best.

The car industry lobbyists have been doing a great job on the human race for decades. It is not just the busses and the trucks and commercial vehicles, we also have more diesel cars than petrol ones these days. Diesel fumes stink, they are filthy (try wearing a white shirt in any inner city in Europe never mind London - Brum or Man titty. I have not bought a diesel in my life, and whilst I appreciate the modern diesels give a far superior performance from torque induced power, they are still a disgusting beast to have around. I also am fully aware that making sure the jets are clean and properly set is crucial, they still get clogged because the fuel itself is not especially well produced and varies from "name" to "name".

I don't think it's a simple matter of replacing diesel buses with electric ones. The fact is there are diesels and there are diesels. And while I would agree that the average petrol engine is "cleaner" than the average diesel, I am sure there are many petrol engines out there which are not as clean as some of the latest breed of diesels.

So surely the best approach is to set acceptable standards for tailpipe emissions, then let the designers decide what kind of powerplant is most appropriate.

And let's not forget that while electric buses have zero taipipe emissions, the power stations which supply their energy are not exactly emissions free, in this country at least.

Its good to read something about polution that isnt looking at CO2. Everyday we see cars, buses, wagons and vans chucking out horrible stuff, and yet as Hilton points out, the dangerous stuff is what we cant see.

All the focus on reducing CO2, particularly the CoCar tax rules have resulted in a huge increase in the number of diesels sold. they may be fine when new, but as they get older the visable muck coming from the exhaust gets worse, its left to the imagination to think what has happened to the stuff we cant see over those years.

A few electric buses, or hybrids isnt going to change things quickly, but i guess it will help.

The real Elephant in the Room that no-one seems to mention or tackle, for which Co2, diesel vs. petrol are but a sideshow, is the fact that Oil is a finite resource and has already likely peaked.

Can you imagine if the oil producers put out a statement today that there were no more barrels? What was left would shoot up in price. The cost of transport, energy, food at your supermarket would skyrocket. There would be riots, civilisation would crumble. How would you keep your family fed, warm or even safe in the face of this?

There are alternatives. Nuclear power stations for a start, the Government should be funding research into the feasilibity of Fusion, an infrastructure for Hydrogen fuel could be set up, instead of wasting billions on wars over oil.

(And i'm not exactly a tree hugger. I don't believe the global warming theory. At the end of the last ice age, were cavemen driving V8s? Don't think so. I have a Honda which struggles to beat 25mpg. Bit hypocrytical yes, but I see it as a last hurrah to big lazy slushbox cars before fuel reaches over £2 a litre).

HA! Global warming theory. The theory that unites most scientists. To disagree then present the lack of V8's when the last ice age occurred as evidence is desperate.

Fortunately neither the "journalists" nor readers of car magazines will be exercising any power over environmental regulation. I prefer considered views with evidence of important issues, that way we'll not end up trying to minimise one negative, but all simultaneously.

CO2 is causing the global climate to change, causing mpre extreme weather. This will affect the world for the foreseeable future. Smog (whoch isn't a problem in the UK), and particulate emissions can be fixed within 10 years. Electric will solve this, and then the change to renewables will solve our issues (stupid NIMBY's prevent this too.)

There is definitely so much work that has to be done in the future. I really hope we can find an alternative to all of this. So much work and idea need to come in here. The environment depends on this. Rack repair